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AN INTRODUCTION TO CORNISH PLACE NAMES

\ BY P. A. S. POOL, M.A., F.S.A.

Second (revised) edition 1971

Obtainable from: ' The Author at 37 Morrab Road, , Price 6p V ‘V

CORNISH PLACE NAMES P. A. s. POOL

C.ORNISH is a Celtic language, closely akin to Welsh and Breton, which remained the ordinary spoken language of most until about 1500 and of a steadily decreasing minority until the late 18th century, its last survival being confined to small areas of the and Lizard peninsulas in the far west of Cornwall. of , who died in 1777, was not, as is commonly believed, the last to speak Cornish, but was certainly of the last native speakers, and by 1800 at the very latest Cornish had finally died out as a spoken language, its revival as such being then more than a century in the future and totally unforeseen. It never- theless survived in traditionally remembered sayings and phrases, in hundreds of dialect words, but principally in thousands of names of places. Not only every village and farm, but also every field and prominent natural feature had its own name, and in the far west where the language survived the longest these names are nearly all Cornish, the few English ones being mostly modern. Generally, the further east in Cornwall one goes, the earlier Cornish gave‘ place to English and the smaller is the proportion of Cornish names, until in Tamar-side parishes they are a small minority. In the east, Cornish names often contain certain words as they were spelt at an earlier stage in the development of the language than those in the west, re- fiecting the earlier date at which use of the language ceased; thus nans, valley, is almost invariably found in names as nance in the west and mmt (the earlier form) in the east. The names of farms and villages often describe the locality as it was when settlement first took place, or refer to some natural or man- made feature nearby, or include the personal name of an early saint or settler. The study of these names is at once one of the most inter- esting and most difiicult branches of Cornish knowledge, and in a short booklet one can only outline the type of problem encountered and discuss some of the more important words found in Cornish names. Only seldom can names be translated with absolute certainty; generally they can only be interpreted with a greater or less degree of probability. The prime rule is to attempt no interpretation until all available forms of the name have been studied, and to place greater reliance on the earlier forms. Many farm names date from the 12th and 13th centuries, some being found in the Domesday Book of 1086, and the early forms of the names, used when their meanings were fully understood by the Cornish-speaking population, are of crucial importance in interpreting them today. Once the names ceased to have any real meaning to those who used them, becoming “just names", the spelling became subject to much variation and corruption, making the later forms often dangerously misleading if studied in isolation. __ _ _--

Thus Polmennor in Madron might seem to mean “pool by a boundary stone”, pol men or, but in fact it is a late corruption of Penmeneth, “top of a hill”, pen meneth, the name of this farm from the 15th to the 19th centuries. Similarly, the name Lanyon in the same parish might seem to contain the word lan, a religious enclosure, but in fact 13th century forms of the name such as Lenien and Linyeine show almost certainly that it is lyn yeyn, cold pool. The Lanyon family took their name from this place, and later, when a branch settled in Gwinear, they took the name and gave it to their new home, so that indirectly a pool in Madron named a place in Gwinear. Very few documents giving old forms of names were available to early writers on the subject, whose interpretations are often highly suspect and occasionally ludicrous. The modern student of place names must regard the work of all his predecessors, however eminent, with scepticism: Dr. William Borlase, Cornwall’s greatest antiquary, wrote in 1749 that “Etymology gives great latitude for imagination and conjecture”; and Dr. P. H. Reaney, a leading authority on English names, wrote in 1960 that “more nonsense has been written on place names than on any other subject”. Students of Cornish names have certainly in the past spared neither imagination nor conjecture, and have produced their full share of nonsense: thus Keverango (“hundreds”—the meeting place of four ancient territorial hundreds at Scorrier) was once interpreted as “the death of goats”, and Carn- meall Bal (l\/Iichael’s Rock Mine) as “the honey hill of the beneficial works”. To avoid other pitfalls, the student must always be prepared to lay aside his books and papers and get his feet muddy, by inspecting the actual places so as to ascertain whether the interpretation he favours is topographically appropriate. Often such considerations will decisively influence choice between two interpretations, otherwise equally probable on etymological grounds alone. Thus it is pointless to interpret the name Tywarnhayle as “house on the estuary” (ly war an hayl) when there is no estuary for miles; it is probably “house on the moor”, ty war an hal. Cornish, like the other , possesses “mutations”, whereby certain initial consonants are liable to change. The only mutation commonly found in place names is or softening, called by linguists the “second state”, whereby B and M both change to V, C and K to G, D to DH or TH, T to D, and G either changes to W or is omitted altogether. lays down fixed rules as to when mutations should take place, but in place names irregular and missed mutations commonly occur. Another complication is that intrusive consonants often occur, especially in relatively modern names; the sound D is the most common, so that pen, end, and gwyn, white, often occur in names as pedn and gwidden respectively. Also, the Cornish vowel U sometimes has the sound of EE, so that cruk, a barrow or burial mound, often occurs in names as creek or creeg, and the same sound is found in the name Priest Cove discussed later. We may now consider the various ways in which names are formed. The simplest kind is a single ; thus Brea, and Nance are the Cornish bre (hill), hayl (estuary) and nans (valley). A noun is commonly made plural by adding -ow to the singular; thus Kerrow is the plural of ker, fort. A noun may be preceded by the definite an, the, which mutates or softens a feminine noun (there being no neuter gender in Cornish); thus we have Angarrack, the rock, and Angrowse, the cross, the initial C of the feminine carrek and crows being softened to G. Frequently a name consists of a noun and an ; the adjective normally follows the noun (which it precedes in English) and is softened after a feminine noun. Thus Trenoweth, Trevear and Trevean mean respectively “new farm” (noweth, new), “large farm” and “small farm”, the V of the two latter names representing softening of the M of mur (pronounced meor), large, and the B of byghan (pronounced bean), small, after the feminine noun tre, farm. The adjective hen, old, is exceptional in that it precedes the noun; thus Hendra (the commonest Cornish farm-name) means “old farm”, dra representing tre. Perhaps the most common form of name consists of two nouns, as Chypons, bridge house, Egloshayle, estuary church, Trenance, valley farm. In these names the second noun is used as an adjective, and the word order is reversed to find the English meaning, owing to the different rules of the two languages as to the order of noun and adjective; alternatively the Cornish order may be retained and the names rendered “house by a bridge”, “church by an estuary”, “farm in a valley”. When the nouns are separated by an (often shortened to n), the Cornish word order is retained and an translated as “of the”, “by the”, “on the”, “near the”, etc. Thus we have such names as Chyandour, house by the water, shy an dowr; Crowsanwra, cross of the witch, crows an wragh; Balnoon (earlier Ballanoon), mine on the down, bal an un; Plainangwarry, plain of the play, plen an gwary, the name given to the amphitheatres where Cornish miracle plays were performed and sometimes found in its English form, Playing Place; and the names given below commencing tren (for tre an). The most common word found in Cornish names is tre or tref, used in to mean “town”, but in names usually de- noting a town in the oldest sense, a farm. The typical west Cornish parish consists of scattered farming settlements, each a ire and about half of them so called; one near the church being often called the “Churchtown”, Treveglos or Treneglos, Often the merest hamlet. As examples of the innumerable tre names all over Cornwall may be given Trewoone, farm on a down, gun, softened; Tremellin or Trevellin, farm by a mill, melyn, softened in the latter name; Trenalls, farm on the cliff, an als; Tregoose, farm by a wood, cos, softened; Trewarveneth, farm on a hill, meneth, softened after -war, on; Tremenheere, farm by a longstone, menhyr; Tregarrick, farm by a rock, carrek, softened; Treneere, farm of the hens, an yer; Tregear, farm by a fort, ker, softened; Trerice, farm by a ford, res; Trengove, farm of the smith, an gof; Trengwainton, farm of the Spring (season), an Gzvaynten; Trendrine, farm of the thorns, an dreyn. Tre is often shortened to tr-; thus Troon is a shortened form of the same name as Trewoone, above, and similarly Trink was originally Trefrink, Frenchman’s farm. t__

Other words used in names to denote settlements are bos, dwelling, and chy, house. Bos may be followed by a noun descriptive of the locality, as in Boscarne, dwelling by a rockpile, carn, and Boscreege, dwelling by a barrow, cruk, but it is more commonly found with the personal name of some early settler. Thus Bosigran and Bosulval contain the personal names Igraine and Wolvela, and it is uncertain whether Boscawen means “dwelling by an elder-tree” (scawen) or “dwelling of Gawen”. Chy is not normally found with personal names and is often combined with similar words as ire, as in Chywoone, shortened to Choone and Chun, house on a down, gun; Chynalls, house on the cliff, an als; Chycoose, house by a wood, cos; Chytodden, house by grassland, ton; Chynance, house in a valley, nans; Chyan- dour, house by the water, an dowr; Chyreen, house on a slope, ryn; Chyangwens, house in the wind, an gzvyns; Chypons, house by a bridge, pons; Chykembro, house of a Welshman, Kembro. Chy is sometimes found as ty, -sy or -gy, as in Tywardreath, house on a beach, ty war dreth; Laity, dairy (literally “milk-house”, legh-ty); Mellingey, formerly Mellinsy, mill house, melyn-gy or -sy; Rose- mergy, heath by a stable (literally “horses’ house”, ros mergh-gy). Another settlement word is Ian, meaning an enclosure, especially a religious enclosure or the settlement of some early saint. Thus Lelant, St. ]ust, St. Ewe and Gwennap were once Lananta, Lanuste, Lanewe and Lanwenap, the saints’ names being used with Inn. Often however the name so used is that of someone other than the saint after whom the parish was named, so that Lanisley is found at Gulval, Landithy at Madron, and Lanuthnoe at St. Erth. Pen and pol are the words which, after ire, are often regarded as being most typical of Cornish names. Pen means “head”, “top” or “end”, and in place-names is used most commonly in the last sense. Thus Penhale, Pennance, Penrose, Pednvounder, Pentreath, Penpoll, Pencoose, Pentewan, Pendrea, Pengelly and Penponds refer respectively to the ends of a moor (hal), a valley (nans), a heath (ros), a lane (bownder, softened), a beach (treth), a creek (pol), a wood (cos), a sandhill (towan), a farm or town (tre, softened), a grove (kelly, softened), and a bridge (pons). Pen is also used to denote a headland, as in Pedn-men-du, headland of black stone, pen men du; Penzance, holy headland (referring to an ancient chapel), pen sans; and Pentire, head land, pen tyr, the direct equivalent of the English word. Pol normally means a pool or pond, as in Polhigey, ducks’ pool, pol heyjy; Polglase, green pool, pol glas; Polgooth, goose pool, pol goth; Polpuscas, fish pool, pol puskes. Pol is also used to denote a creek (Penpoll, above), or a cove as in Poldhu, the equivalent of the English name Blackpool. Another word for a pool or pond is lyn, often found in names as Lidden, and met already in Lanyon. The normal word for a cove or harbour is porth, as in Porthmeor, large cove, porth mur; Porthgwidden, white cove, porth gwyn; and Porthscatho, boats’ cove, porth scathow. St. Ives was once called Porthia, Ia’s Cove, and Mousehole Porthennis, island cove, porth enys. Both porth and enys have secondary meanings, as “entrance” and “isolated place” respectively, which are found together in the inland name Bosporthennis (), dwelling at the entrance to an isolated place, which is not far from Ninnes (for an enys, the isolated place). Porth is often shortened in names to pr-; thus Bos- porthennis is usually pronounced Bosprennis, and Priest Cove in St. ]ust contains the saint’s name rather than his vocation, for the name was originally Porth Just, ]ust’s Cove, which was pronounced Por’east and eventually shortened to Priest. Words denoting fortifications are often found in place names. For a large fort the usual word is dynas, often found as dennis or dinnis, as in Pendennis, fort headland. The place name St. Dennis originates from a hill-fort, not a saint, and the name Castle-an-Dinas is tauto- logic, containing English and Cornish words of the same meaning. For smaller forts or defensive enclosures the usual word is car or ker, found in the singular as Gear and in the plural as Kerrow, and combined with other words in such names as Carthew, black fort, du; Carwin, white fort, gwyn; Carvean, small fort, byghan; Car- loggas, fort of mice, logas, evidently an ironic name given when the fort was long disused; Carvossow, fort with walls, fosow; and Carvinack, stony fort, meynek. A somewhat similar word is lys, denoting the hall or court of some important person; thus Leswidden means “white court”, lys wyn, and Lis Escop for Lys Epscop, Bishop’s Court, has in modern times been the name given to successive palaces of the Bishops of . A name which does not at first sight seem to include lys is , but this was anciently Henlys, old court, to which was added the Anglo-Saxon word ton, town (not to be con- fused with Cornish ton, grassland); the name thus became Henlyston and was shortened to its modern form. At the other end of Cornwall the name Helstone is similarly derived, and not far from it is the opposite name, Lesnewth, new court, lys noweth. Three words of related meaning are gun, downland; hal, moor (often in the sense of marsh); and ros, heath or upland. Gun, often found as woon or noon (for an un), has already been met in Trewoone, Chywoone and Balnoon, and is also found in such names as Gun- win, white down, and Goongumpas (at another place Woon Gumpus), level down, compes. Hal, plural hallow, is found in Halwyn, white moor; Penhale and Penhallow, end of a moor or moors; and Pontshallow, bridge on moors. Ros occurs in Penrose, end of a heath; Rosemorran, heath of brambles, moran; Rosudgeon, heath of oxen, ojyon; and Roskruge, heath with a barrow, cruk. Ros is often confused with res, a ford; thus with the names Roskear (Cam- borne) and Roseangrouse (Lelant), the early forms (Risker, Resin- crous) show that the derivations are res ker, ford by a fort, and res an grows, ford of the cross, and not ros ker, heath by a fort, and ros an grows, heath of the cross. Res has already been met in Trerice and occurs in Rissick, dry ford, res segh; Resoon, ford on the down, gun; and the plural resyow, fords, as Ridgeo. Another group of words best considered together are carn, carrek and men. Carn means “a pile of rocks”, what would in Devon be called a tor, and is found in names of hills, headlands and rocks, such as Carn Brea, rock-pile on a hill, bre; Carn Dhu, black rock-pile; and Carn Kie, Carnmarth and Carnyorth, respectively the rock-piles of (perhaps resembling) a dog (ky), a horse (margh) and a roebuck (yorgh). Carrek means “rock” and is used in names denoting some particular rock, such as Angarrack (the rock), Tregarrick (near Roche Rock) and the traditional name for St. Michael’s Mount, Carreck Loose, Grey Rock, carrek los. Men means “stone”, and is found in names of well-known antiquities such as Men Scryfa, stone of writing; Dawns Men for dons meyn, dance of stones, i.e., a circle; Men an T01, stone with the hole; and the same name in re- versed form at another site, Tolven, hole in a stone. Pons, bridge, has already been met in Penponds, Chypons and Pontshallow, and the plural ponsyow, bridges, is found as Poniou. Pons is ultimately derived from the Latin word of the same spelling and meaning, and similarly the Cornish eglos, church, and melyn, mill, seem to be derived from Latin ecclesia and molina; compare also the French pont, église and moulin. Eglos has been met in Treveglos and Egloshayle, and rnelyn occurs in such names as Melancoose, mill in a wood, cos," Vellanoweth, new mill; Nancemellin, mill valley; Tremellin or Trevellin, mill farm; Vellandreath, mill on a beach, treth; and Vellandruchia, tucking-mill, rnelyn droghya. The words bal and whel are commonly found in names connected with mining. Bal means “mine” and is found in Balnoon, mine on the down, and Baldhu, black mine. Whel, meaning literally “work”, occurs (usually as wheal or huel) as the first element in the names of innumerable mines and tin-bounds, such as Wheal Owles for whel als, cliff Work, an ancient mine in St. just. Sten, tin, occurs in the name Stennack, tin-bearing ground. The most common word meaning “field” is park, but gwel is also found, usually as gweal. Typical field names are Park Venton, spring field, fenten; Park Skibber, barn field, skyber; Park Peeth, well field, pyth; Park Darras, door field, i.e., outside the farmhouse door; and Gweal Creeg, barrow field, cruk. Dor, ground, is often found in field-names descriptive of the state of the ground, such as Dormin- ack, stony ground (meynek), and Dor Catcher, daisy ground (caja). Field names are more difiicult to study than farm names, since they are rarely recorded before 1700 and often the oldest available forms are from the Tithe Apportionments of about 184-0, so that often attempted interpretation must be based on late and corrupt forms. The names of many lost farms and settlements survive as field names, and con- versely a field name is sometimes given to a newly established farm, as at Park an Crowes (Cross Field) in Madron. Of the commonly found in place names, examples have been given of the most common “opposites”-du and gwyn, black and white; hen and noweth, old and new; and mur and byghan, large and small, usually found in softened form as veor and wean. Special men- tion should also be made of gwartha and goles, almost invariably softened to wartha and wollas, meaning “higher” and “lower” and very commonly used, as are veor and wean, to distinguish two adjacent farms bearing the same name, a third being sometimes called crease (for cres, middle). As a further example, the name is derived from marghas byghan, small market, the name of one of the two settlements com- prising the town; the other was called Marghas Yaw, Thursday Market, whence the name Market ]ew given formerly to the town and still to Market Iew Street in Penzance which leads to it. The name has thus no connection with ]ews or with Zion. The closeconnection between place names and personal names has already been mentioned. Many place names, including most of those commencing with bos and lan and many with tre, contain an old per- sonal name, and this process has continued into modern times; thus the villages of Halsetown and Leedstown were founded by and named after, respectively, Iames Halse, an M.P. for St. Ives who died in 1838, and the Dukes of Leeds who inherited the Godolphin estates in 1785. Conversely, many places have given their names to Cornish families who originated there; thus of the place names mentioned in this booklet, Lanyon, Nance, Trenoweth, Tremenheere, Treneere, Tregear, Trevelyan (for Trevellin), Laity, Boscawen, Polglase, Pen- hale, Penrose, Pentreath and Pengelly are well-known Cornish sur- names, and in fact most surnames regarded as being distinctively Cornish were originally place names. The relation between the Cornish and Welsh languages is shown by the fact that most of the Cornish words repeatedly mentioned in this booklet have Welsh equivalents with spelling and meaning similar and sometimes identical. Thus in Welsh we have allt, cliff; caer, fort; earn, rock pile; carreg, stone; dinas, city; eglwys, church; Zlan, church or village; llyn, lake or pond; llys, court or hall; melin, mill; mynydd, mountain; nant, ravine or gorge; pen, head, end or top; pant, bridge; rhos, moor or heath; rhyd, ford; traeth, beach; tref, home or town; ty, house; tywyn, shore or sandhill; ynys, island; and the adjectival pairs rnawr and bychan, large and small, du and gwyn, black and white, and hen and nywydd, old and new. In consequence many Cornish names would be well understood by anyone with a knowledge of Welsh, and vice-versa, and this applies also to Breton. The words explained in this booklet are only a small selection of those most commonly found in Cornish place names, and the examples have been chosen as simple and typical ones of which there is little doubt as to the meanings. Thousands of others, ranging from the simple to the obscure, await study and interpretation. The work is demanding and, at times, frustrating, but to the student of Cornish it can never be dull or unrewarding, for in these names our old language speaks to us over the centuries with the voices of both music and history. In the words of the Cornish poet Katharine Lee ]enner:— The names of our dead speech are music still In our dear living land, Which never can be void or desolate While here on every hand Is still the record of our fathers’ lives, Though their old hopes and fears Have passed away like sunlight on the hills Down through the path of years.

WORDENS OF CORNWALL LTD., PENZANCE